Researchers: 17,000 Android apps have been collecting identifying information from 100 million devices

An International Computer Science Institute research cited by CNET shows that roughly 17,000 Android mobile apps have been collecting identifying information from at least 100 million devices. Some popular apps include Angry Birds Classic, Audiobooks by Audible, and Flipboard. Google allows app developers to collect the Advertising ID — a unique, user-resettable ID for advertising — of users but recommends that developers “ensure the identifier cannot be connected to personally identifiable information (PII) and avoid bridging Advertising ID resets.” According to the International Computer Science Institute’s research, however, less than a third of the 17,000 apps solely collected Advertising ID data.